New York Attorney General Letitia James says Georgia publisher Frank W. Cawood & Associates, known as FC&A, must refund New Yorkers who were billed for self-help books that arrived as a “free” trial. A $36 hardcover turned into a $49.68 invoice once shipping and taxes were added, the attorney general says. Consumers who believe they are eligible for a refund have until April 23, 2027, to contact the company.
That leaves one question for anyone who ever received a trial book in the mail: does the order fall inside the refund rules? The settlement covers people who paid for a trial book sent to a New York address within the last six years, people who asked FC&A for a full refund and never got one, and people who told the company they did not understand a bill or did not remember ordering a book. A caregiver who handled a parent’s mail is in the same position as the person who got the book.
Retirement deadlines, in your inbox: Miss an enrollment or claim deadline and the money can be gone. Join the Retirement Money Brief and we’ll send you our 2026 Government Check Reality Tracker as a welcome gift.
Get the Brief + the check tracker →
We may earn a commission from links on this page.
How did a “free” preview become a $49.68 bill?
FC&A sent mailers offering a “free no-risk preview” of its books, the attorney general’s office says. The payment terms sat in much smaller print than the “free trial” and “no risk” claims, and the investigation found that many recipients, or the caregivers who opened their mail, were billed for books they believed were free.
The books cost $36 per hardcover copy. With shipping and taxes, the invoice for one trial book came to $49.68. James said the company led New Yorkers to believe they were getting a free book, and that her office is making sure the people who were wronged get their money back.
FC&A publishes self-help books aimed at seniors, and the attorney general’s announcement is headlined as a refund for seniors. The settlement terms themselves reach any New York consumer whose trial order meets the rules. The company neither admitted nor denied the findings, according to Finger Lakes 1’s report on the settlement.
Which New Yorkers can ask Cawood for a refund?
The settlement, which the attorney general’s office files as Assurance No. 26-055, says eligible consumers get 100% of the amount they paid, including the shipping cost and any late fees. Under that rule, a person who paid the full $49.68 invoice would get $49.68 back, not the $36 cover price. An assurance of discontinuance is the kind of agreement a company signs with the attorney general to stop a practice and make amends without a court case.
The rule covers any product FC&A first mailed on a preview or trial basis to a New York address, ordered within the last six years. It is not limited to one title. FC&A has to go through its own records to find people who asked for a refund and did not receive one, and people who told the company they did not understand a bill or did not remember requesting the trial.
Everyone else has to come forward. The agreement lets any consumer request a refund within six months of the Oct. 23 effective date, even if that person never contacted FC&A before. The six months end on April 23, 2027, the date in the attorney general’s release.
When would the checks arrive?
Refunds go out as paper checks mailed to the last known address in FC&A’s records. The company first runs addresses through the National Change of Address database. If mail comes back, it traces the person further and resends the check when a new address turns up.
FC&A must mail the checks no later than 30 days after the six-month window closes. With the window ending April 23, 2027, that points to a mailing deadline around the end of May 2027. The release does not say how many people were billed or how much the company expects to refund in total.
How can someone reach FC&A before April 23?
The attorney general’s release tells eligible consumers to contact FC&A before April 23, 2027, but it lists no phone number or address for the company. The settlement document does. It names Nic Womble, the company’s general manager, at 103 Clover Green, Peachtree City, Ga. 30269, with a phone number of (770) 487-6307 and an email address of Nic_Womble@fca.com.
There is a second route. A consumer can contact the attorney general’s office, which forwards the inquiry to FC&A, and the company must treat it as if the person had contacted it directly. The attorney general’s release gives the office’s number as 1-800-771-7755.
Anyone who writes or calls can say roughly when the book arrived, what was paid and the New York address it was sent to. Those are the facts the rules turn on: a six-year look-back, a New York address and the amount paid. Keeping a note of the date and name of whoever answers helps if a check does not show up later.
What else changes for FC&A in New York?
FC&A pays a $23,500 penalty to the state of New York and is permanently barred from running its preview program in the state. After the effective date it cannot mail or redeem offer cards for New York consumers, or seek payment for products requested through the program.
Within one year of the effective date, the company must send the attorney general’s office a signed letter confirming it is complying and reporting every refund it made, including recipients, categories, amounts and totals. Those figures should show how large the refund pool turns out to be.
Did a “free” trial book from FC&A reach a New York address in the last six years?
The refund window closes April 23, 2027, and a trial book that arrived years ago can be hard to place. Anyone who waits past that date has no stated way back in, and the company keeps the $49.68.
The Settlement & Refund Recovery System includes the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice, so the effective date, the six-month window and the mailing deadline are on one page, and a claim log and payment tracker to record who was contacted and when. It is a 50-page guide with a five-tab Excel tracker and a large-print quick-start sheet.
Get the refund tracker and four-date rule for the FC&A trial-book refund window →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
